KUOW is Seattle's NPR affiliate, so they are not supposed to carry commercials. But they often have commercials anyway, and I am not just referring to the thinly disguised "commercials" from their sponsors. No, what I am referring to are their political commercials.
For example, this morning I was listening to their Weekday program, from 10 to 11. As usual on Fridays, they had three local journalists as guests, Susan Paynter of the Seattle PI, Danny Westneat of the Seattle Times, and Knute Berger, who edited the Seattle Weekly for many years. Marcy Sillman of KUOW substituted for the usual host, Steve Scher.
In the first twenty minutes of the program, the four discussed President Bush's State of the Union speech and Senator Webb's reply. What they said amounted to a twenty minute anti-war commercial. They made no attempt to explain the arguments on both sides, or, with one small exception*, to discuss the consequences of an American withdrawal, which all four favor. But Paynter did tell us that she planned to join a weekend anti-war demonstration**, and so did some who called and emailed the program
The level of discussion was embarrassingly low — and annoying when you remembered that our taxes were paying for this foolishness. For example, none noted any of the factual errors in Webb's speech, nor did any of them find it strange that he would say that Eisenhower's efforts to bring an armistice in Korea were an example to be emulated. (As I mentioned in my post, Eisenhower was able to get an armistice in part by threatening to use nuclear weapons. None of the four may know that, though I am almost certain that Webb does.)
During the twenty minutes commercial, Paynter made an astonishing mistake; she said that she thought that Webb's son was the only child of a congressman now serving in Iraq. For the facts, see this article. Earlier, Paynter had said that she didn't know much about military matters, but that she knows how to listen to those who do. I hope she will forgive me for saying that I agree with the first part, but have doubts about the second. The other three said less than Paynter, but none appeared qualified to speak on military questions.
Think about this twenty minute commercial for a minute. It was paid for, in part, by the government. But it was also an attack on official government policy. And it was blatantly partisan, probably far past the bounds of NPR's charter. But none of the four journalists seemed to see the slightest thing wrong with this silly and biased discussion. The host of the show, Marcy Sillman, did not not even make a perfunctory request for callers with different views.
It is this kind of program that has persuaded me that we should defund NPR, that it is impossible to reform it. (I would have no objection to privatizing NPR; in fact, if it were privatized, I might even be willing to contribute to a few of the programs.) The organization is impervious to criticism from the outside, if that criticism comes from moderates or conservatives, no matter how justified the criticism is. The only thing left to do is to end the subsidy from the taxpayers.
Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.
(*The exception came from Knute Berger who briefly mentioned some of the possible bad outcomes from withdrawal, though only to contrast them with American victory, which he thought might lead to an Iranian puppet state, another bad outcome.
**Some newspapers do not allow their journalists to take part in demonstrations. Apparently, the PI does not have that rule.
Wondering what happened in the rest of the program? The four mostly discussed the failures of Seattle to find a fix or a replacement for the Alaskan Way viaduct. As is usual in these discussions on Weekday, none considered blaming this failure on the Democrats who run Seattle. And none suggested that it might be time for Seattle to put Republicans in charge.)
Posted by Jim Miller at January 26, 2007 02:50 PM | Email ThisNothing surprising about this from Seattle media and NPR. Hearing about this stuff just makes me all the more angry when it's these same "mainstream" folks who now propose to elimate "right wing" talk radio.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 26, 2007 03:24 PMOr maybe you believe Dick Cheney who says the only thing going wrong in Iraq is the liberal media focusing on the negative stuff.
NPR is ran like the State Department (or any other governmental institution): lifelong bureacrats actively undermining the elected representatives' policies and wishes.
Posted by: Shaun on January 26, 2007 03:36 PMUnkl - heard the argument before. If federal funding is such a small part of their budget, and it is so controversial, why don't they willingly give it up? Why should government be paying for the media that is the watchdog?
Posted by: janet s on January 26, 2007 04:39 PMAs long as I'm not not-commenting I would like to point out that the write-in vote was for "Chris Rossi".
Posted by: Obi-Wan on January 26, 2007 05:57 PMThat consistent chagrin, sorrow, disgust, and anger about what's going on in Iraq happens to represent the vast majority of the American public. That's the reason why GWB's popularity has shrunk to sub-Nixonian levels.
The last, thin quiver in the Wingnut quill, of course, is blaming the media. So far be it from me to deny you the few paltry pleasures that are left to you.
We'll let you gnaw on that meager bone while the rest of the country migrates back to the reality-based community.
Posted by: Bartelby on January 26, 2007 07:35 PMSo "defund" them to your hearts content, but know there are a host of your fellow capitalists who willingly send $$$ to keep them on the air. Must be some perception of utility.
Now back to the issue at hand: How can you complain about a few grand in tax supported radio and blindly support a half-trillion dollars worth of death and destruction in Iraq.
I look forward to your reply....
Posted by: Unkl Witz on January 26, 2007 08:19 PMThe right has been complaining about PBS and NPR for years and a couple of years ago almost managed to get their funding yanked. Instead the right got hauled over the coals when people found out what was going on. Turns out people like those gastly liberals on A Prairie Home Companion and Barney.
Let's de-fund them, too!
Posted by: brent on January 26, 2007 10:02 PMUnkl - why do you dislike the Iraqis so much that you want them all dead? That is their fate if your plans are enacted. Same with the Israelis. I guess those who crave freedom and democracy are expendable.
Posted by: janet s on January 26, 2007 10:07 PMWon't the magic of the market eliminate KUOW if it's that bad? It's listener supported after all in addition to being partially funded by the public. (just like the internet)
As bad as the King County Democrats are, at least they didn't lie the U.S. into a war. At least they don't have a dozen of their leadership under indictment or headed to prison. At least they don't plant gay male prostitutes in the White House press corp because they're too lame to answer real questions. The Republicans are really a weak, weak party. The party of criminals. Yea, let's put them in charge of WA state. Get real dude.
Posted by: Christian on January 26, 2007 10:14 PMHow can NPR be the watchdog of the govt if they are reliant on funding from those who they are watching? If it is too small an amount for them to be influence, then it is a small enough amount for them to give up in the name of independence.
Too bad George Soros has figured out how to by-pass all these funding rules.
Posted by: janet s on January 26, 2007 10:29 PM"If the United States Senate passes a resolution, non-binding or otherwise, that criticizes the commitment of additional troops to Iraq that General Petraeus has asked for and that the president has pledged, and if the Senate does so after the testimony of General Petraeus on January 23 that such a resolution will be an encouragement to the enemy, I will not contribute to any Republican senator who voted for the resolution. Further, if any Republican senator who votes for such a resolution is a candidate for re-election in 2008, I will not contribute to the National Republican Senatorial Committee unless the Chairman of that Committee, Senator Ensign, commits in writing that none of the funds of the NRSC will go to support the re-election of any senator supporting the non-binding resolution."
http://www.thenrscpledge.com/resultsbystate.php
NPR is not a shoe-string donation station but a mega force coming out with this nonsense all the time. And I realize KUOW is just a fractile of NPR but they use the same tax-payer facilities affiliated with UW or PLU in Tacoma.
Listening to noodle head Westneat, Paynter, Berger do their swarmy put downs or totally hand-picked calls makes one want to scream -- ENOUGH. Cut off all taxpayer benefits and have them live in the real world.
Posted by: James M. Olsen on January 27, 2007 09:44 AM